Burma nod for China gas deal

Burma has agreed to sell gas from its A-1 and A-3 blocks to China, a major ally but not a stakeholder in the blocks, a senior Energy Ministry official said today.

"Yes, we have decided to sell the gas from A-1 and A-3 to China and details are under negotiation. Once we reach an agreement, we will go ahead," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

"If everything goes well, the gas from these offshore blocks will be sold to China through a pipeline," he added, refusing to give further details.

A senior Indian official said earlier this week that Burma had decided in favour of China, but today's comments were the first confirmation of that from Rangoon.

The A-1 and A-3 fields off the Rakhine coast have proven reserves of 5.7 trillion to 10 trillion cubic feet with up to 8.6 Tcf of that volume being recoverable, according to assessments by the US-based international certification agency GCA.

South Korea's Daewoo International, which had proposed building a liquefied natural gas plant in Rakhine, has a 60% stake in the blocks.

Korea Gas Corporation has 10%, India's Oil & Natural Gas Corporation 20% and Indian natural gas utility GAIL has the remaining 10%.

India, China and Thailand, have been bidding to buy the gas from A-1 and A-3 through pipelines.

Myanmar has at least 90 Tcf in gas reserves and 3.2 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves in 19 onshore and three major offshore fields.

Altogether, 25 offshore blocks are under exploration, 12 of them in the Gulf of Martaban, six off the Tanintharyi coast and seven off the Rakhine coast.